007: First Light devs chose an origin story in part because it allowed for a "more relatable" Bond for the potentially "younger audience" than might turn out for the films.
Speaking to GamesRadar+ at Summer Game Fest, 007 franchise director Jonathan Lacaille said that developer IO Interactive found the chance to set a story in a period of Bond's life that's "not been covered much," to be "the exciting part" of the project.
"We have a story to tell that people are probably very curious to find out," he says. "What are the events and the people that shaped the character [James Bond] is today? Was he always the womanizer that he is, or the strong man that he is?"
First Light, which sees James Bond operating before he's earned his iconic '00' status, features the character long before he becomes the "established legend" that we know him as. That means, Lacaille says, that "there's a lot of youth in him, so maybe some recklessness at times. And he has a lot of charm, but he doesn't know how to use it yet. He's maybe not as efficient as a [later] Bond would be."
That decision, however, is by design. Lacaille says that a clumsier Bond might be a more relatable Bond, particularly for a gaming audience that is "a younger audience, maybe, than the Bond franchise is used to." That piece of demographic profiling is a big part of why IO chose an origin story - "it's a new story to tell, and also a story that would connect really well."
That does come with its downsides. There's a lot of creative freedom attached to telling a whole new story, "but at the same time, you have a lot of creative freedom so you have to come up with everything." Lacaille reasserts that First Light "is not an adaptation or anything [...] but that's what will allow us to make a great game, because then we have a lot of freedom that will fit with the gameplay mechanics."
All that freedom, he says, has also come with the benefit of being able to make the game relatively fast. Now scheduled for a release next year after a lengthy period of near silence, it seems that IO is moving faster than I, at least, had anticipated. Lacaille, however, says that the game is "well-advanced since we've announced it," and "feels fantastic," which suggests that the team has been very busy behind the scenes.
Check out our Summer Game Fest schedule for you next look at 007: First Light.
